Who should get the armrest on the plane and WHY does it make passengers so angry?

Etiquette expert William Hanson and body language expert Judi James on the big battle of the skies

By Caroline McGuire

9th February 2017, 12:36 pm

Updated: 28th June 2018, 3:15 pm

TWO lawyers became viral sensations today, when footage emerged of them embroiled in a heated argument over an armrest during a Monarch flight.

The pair, who allegedly resorted to spitting and hitting during the row on a flight to Malaga in Spain, certainly aren’t the first to fight over control of the middle ground, so what are the official rules for plane armrest etiquette and why does it make passengers so mad?

Two lawyers became viral sensations today, when footage emerged of them embroiled in a heated argument over an armrest during a Monarch flight

Etiquette expert William Hanson and body language expert Judi James have spoken to The Sun about the big battle of the skies, explaining why people care so much and who can really claim it as their own.

According to the former flight attendant Jacqueline Whitmore, there is an unspoken rule that the person in the middle seat gets both arm rests because the person in the aisle can get up without any problems and the window seat has the view.

But William Hanson says etiquette dictates that both people should share the armrest.

He believes that trying to claim the entire post for yourself is the height of bad manners.

William told The Sun: “The armrest is actually more of a seat divider than an armrest.

“Armrest is misleading as a term, because only one person can rest an arm, but two people can rest their elbows on it.

“One person’s elbow can go on the front and the other person can go on the back.

“Etiquette is all about compromise and not being selfish, so taking up the entire armrest is bad manners.”

Etiquette expert William believes that hogging the armrest is the height of bad manners

While that might seem clear cut, behaviour expert Judi James believes that the no man’s land of the armrest is a battle that will never end, because the battle for space is inbuilt into us as human beings.

She told The Sun: “Space is something that humans and animals fight wars over – it’s the most inflammatory thing.

"It’s why people whose garden wall if half a centimetre to the right can fight with their neighbours for years. We can’t avoid being territorial.

“We even adopt personal ownership of things that really don’t belong to us, like our chair in the office, or our seat on a plane. It brings out the warrior in us.”